


Current

by orphan_account



Category: Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
Genre: Ficlet, Hobbits, M/M, Male Protagonist, POV Male Character, POV Third Person, Past Tense, Swimming, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-04
Updated: 2007-05-04
Packaged: 2017-10-09 07:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/84427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A kind of a sibling piece to "Eddies".</p>
    </blockquote>





	Current

**Author's Note:**

> A kind of a sibling piece to "Eddies".

Tom Cotton had always been just Tom Cotton, from the quiet, modest brown-baked kid who was the best hoop-roller in Hobbiton and the second best at most of the ball games, to the brown-baked youth who still didn't talk much, had deft and quick hands, and wasn't afraid of anything.

Sam wasn't afraid of many things either, though he'd never thought himself brave; yet his heart pounded as he stood in the running Water, remembering tales of sudden gushes and sweepings away of careless hobbits. The current wasn't so harsh, but who knew when such a volatile motion changed into something much more dangerous? Tom waded in deeper, nearer to the middle of the river, and for a moment Sam thought he'd try to swim.

But Tom did something worse: he dipped under the water, vanishing, and Sam thought his heart would stop, but the next second Tom was up again, grinning shyly and holding up a bright, sparkling stone.

Sam barely noticed moving before he was up there with Tom, arms around him, holding him tight in place so he couldn't disappear again, couldn't be swept away. 'Stars, Tom,' he breathed. 'It's dangerous in the river, you fool.'

'Sam?' said Tom, quiet, amused, one hand resting on Sam's shoulder, not quite pushing. 'You've never come this deep before.'

Sam pulled away, pulled back into reality, and felt the current around his waist, pulling and pushing, and the stirred mud between his toes, and the fear reappearing in the pit of his belly. Tom was looking at him with his shy smile and his deep brown eyes, as familiar as Hobbiton itself. The fear began to fall back, shrivel into its origins and die out.

It was only a small river, after all.

Sam felt a different tug, then; a secret one, which lay beyond Gemmy Waterway and Rosie Cotton, in moments like this, and he looked aside in confusion, to hide the sudden urge to kiss Tom as he'd kissed Gemmy once behind a tree on a spring market day; to feel the lines of muscles along his back, sturdy and hard and nothing at all like Gemmy.

But he was Tom Cotton, and Sam was Sam Gamgee, and they'd known each other forever, and one day they'd be brothers.

Tom took him by the hand and held it fast, steady, all the way back to the shore, and through volatile motion, into safety.


End file.
